You are here

World Gone By 8/17

Aberdeen’s Golden Jubilee parade got a real early day entry today when Victor Morrison of the Western Machinery Exchange announced purchase of an old Dolbeer donkey engine for a parade feature.

Saved from the junk heap by Joe Majinowski, city mechanic, the ancient Dolbeer was the second donkey ever taken into the Wishkah woods well over 40 years ago.

The Dolbeer was the first steam donkey ever designed for logging. It had an upright cylinder that ran gear mechanism to an upright spool. A line tender took several turns around the spool and hauled in a load much the same as a present day “gypsy.”

August 17, 1938

While firemen from three towns stood helplessly by a spectacular blaze this morning completely destroyed the Brady general store, all its stock and a warehouse and garage owned by C. C. Cardwell.

With no water available to quench the flames since wells near the store are dry, firemen who had come posthaste from Elma and Montesano stood and watched with Brady volunteers as flames exploded dynamite and ammunitions, roared high when oil drums burst and quickly razed the large store to the ground.

August 18, 1938

“Pick a nice spot. Pick one that shelves off pretty fast, then all you got to do is to put your net down and the water washes the (smelt) right into it,” says Skipper Flanders at the Kalalock shore.

He is one of dozens of smelt dippers who haunt the peninsula beaches every summer. It’s not a life of great financial return, what with buyers paying a penny a pound, and the runs decidedly uncertain.

“You never know when they will come, day or night, full moon or dark of the moon,” says Flanders. “Sometimes you wait all day without a sign. Then again, just the other night I dipped a ton myself. That’s the way it goes.”

50 years ago

August 16, 1963

The Polack Bros. circus with a crew of more than 100 people and nearly 50 animals arrived yesterday and will present afternoon and evening performances tomorrow at the Grays Harbor District Fair in Elma.

About 30 trucks, cars and trailers transport the elaborate paraphernalia for the show and everything can be set up in about four hours.

August 17, 1963

The Aberdeen Police Department has filled the vacancy left by the death of Patrolman Howard Hamblen. Given a 60-day temporary appointment was Sam Ancich, 22. An alumnus of Wishkah High School, he is a graduate of the Washington State Patrol radio school at Olympia.

August 18, 1963

Sunday, no newspaper published

25 years ago

August 16, 1988

Grays Harbor drivers made a clean sweep of the main events in the Evergreen Auto Racing Association program Saturday at Harbor Speedway in Elma.

Mike Zvono of Montesano, Kerry Sample of McCleary, Ron Kloempken of Aberdeen and Dan West Jr. of Hoquiam captured the featured contests before a near-capacity crowd.

Brian Sutherby of McCleary, the runner-up in the season’s point standings, sustained a multiple fracture of the left leg when his car struck three of the large tires bordering the course during the opening lap of the modified trophy dash.

August 17, 1988

Inch by inch, block by block, a team of tool-toting teenagers is getting to know many of the 79 miles of Hoquiam sidewalks this summer.

Armed with hoes, edgers, weed killer, weed eater and a “cold tar” machine to seal grooves and cracks with a quick-hardening, milkshake-like emulsion, the octet is now working its way through the downtown district.

“This can be hard work,” said Steve Beardslee, a Hoquiam High School senior, who is handy with a hoe and has the callouses to prove it. “But at least you know you are earning your money.”

August 18, 1988

• The Great American Bank will close its Hoquiam branch next month, consolidating its Harbor operations into the company’s Aberdeen office.

“I’m awfully sorry to see it happen,” said Hoquiam Mayor Phyllis Shrauger. “We never like to see a business leave. But we’re not going to just sit here and cry about it, we’ll keep moving forward.”

• Toting finely-crafted muzzleloaders, powder horns and an ample supply of lead balls, the Seven Rivers Mountainmen gathered for three days near the junction of Highways 101 and 107 to eat, sleep and live the frontier lifestyle of their forefathers.

The only requirement was authenticity. Meals were cooked over open campfires, families slept in authentic Sioux and Croix Indian-style tipi’s (or lodges) and — of course — all clothing had to be handmade.